Oil pan seal redone....still leaking?? (1 Viewer)

[MPTank]

Hello

I purchased a 97 lx450 a few months ago with all the normal oil leaks. Thanks to Mud I was able to fix all but one last leak. The last one was the oil pan arch /rear main seal leak. Oil was on the bell housing. Thinking the oil pan arch was the cause of the leak, I went that route to see if that would Fix it. Not wanting to tackle this project dropped off at my mechanic. Had him reseal both oil pans with Toyota Fipg. Got my truck back and the bell housing still has the same leak. I pulled the black cover, snapped some pics. Maybe someone can see what is going on. the shop wants 800 to fix the rear main.

 

[MPTank]

Oh here is the truck. 1997 210k. Lockers. Purchased for 8k.

 

[MPTank]

The bell housing picture is 10 minutes idling after I cleaned it. Seems like a lot of oil for a rear main. That is about same amount of oil leakage as before oil pan reseal.

 

[jdayment]

I have a 3FE so i dont know walot about the 1FZ but isnt there a gasket? Why did he do it with fipg and was the rear main replaced or just the oil pan gasket?

 

[MPTank]

1fz is fipg. And only the oil pans was done not the rear main.

 

[bloc]

There is no gasket on 1FZ.

Could very well be RMS. Is your valve cover gasket fresh?
Maybe try parking on an incline forward then dry it up and see if leak stops, then do same for rearward incline and see if comes back? I'll credit @baldilocks for this idea

 

[MPTank]

Yes valve cover, distributor o ring , oil pump seal, power steering seal and oil pans. All new hoses. Etc. this was the last leak. No the rear main seal hasn't been done. Was wondering if the oil pan arch seal looks correct from the pics I posted. Guess I'm almost at the default of spending the money on the rear main. Cost me 900 for the oil pans and motor mounts. Not that I'm an expert. But was thinking that the rear main doesn't leak as bad as it is.

 

[MPTank]

Hard to tell from pics If the leak is comin from the arch pan still or the rear main.

 

[baldilocks]

My engine has 272k miles and the crank seals do not leak. You can clean the whole area off with the truck parked level. Start it and run it while parked for 5 minutes. Stick a mirror up in there and see if it's leaking after shutting it down. If not, run it 5 or 10 minutes more and check again. If no leak is noted, park it over night with the nose high and check in the morning. No matter what, you can see where it's coming from with a mirror. The rear main seal is higher up of course.

I don't trust shops. Sealing the oil pan is a tedious job that most people would be trying to get through as painlessly as possible. Thorough cleaning of the sealing surfaces is very important.

 

[MPTank]

My engine has 272k miles and the crank seals do not leak. You can clean the whole area off with the truck parked level. Start it and run it while parked for 5 minutes. Stick a mirror up in there and see if it's leaking after shutting it down. If not, run it 5 or 10 minutes more and check again. If no leak is noted, park it over night with the nose high and check in the morning. No matter what, you can see where it's coming from with a mirror. The rear main seal is higher up of course.

I don't trust shops. Sealing the oil pan is a tedious job that most people would be trying to get through as painlessly as possible. Thorough cleaning of the sealing surfaces is very important.

This is where I'm at in my thinking. I'm wondering if they sealed it correctly. If u see in the pics the fipg gasket isn't uniform. But there again I don't know what a arch looks like properly done. Just seems odd that it's the same amount of oil leaking after the oil pan and arch was sealed. I thought the rear main only drops a few drops nothing to really worry about. But I'm leaking the same amount of oil if not more after they did the oil pans. im having a hard time seeing where the oil is leaking from when I look through dust cover

 

[MPTank]

I feel like they cleaned the surface correctly

 

[MPTank]

I guess I'll get rear main done and if it still leaks then I'll have them do the oil pans again. Only solution I can think of at this moment. I don't have the ability to do the rear main in my garage at home.i hate the thought of dropping another 800 for RMS if they didn't do oil pan correctly.

 

[MPTank]

Guess one more post. This picture is after I cleaned the underside and idled 10 minutes. Is it common for the rear main to leak this much. This is after the oil pans was resealed. Also this is the same amount of oil I was leaking before I took to shop for the oil pans reseal.

 

[bloc]

The uneven appearance of the FIPG could be because it sat for a minute before being assembled. The outside dries slightly and this makes it squeeze out unevenly. Should still be ok. Really it's hard to avoid this on at least one part of the upper pan because the damn thing is so big it takes a while to get all the way around it with the sealer.

 

[baldilocks]

Your other option is to ignore it and keep an eye on the dipstick. I hate leaks myself so I understand your concern.

 

[ceylonfj40nut]

Did you place FIPG on inside track of the rear main seal arch of oil pan 1 per the FSM? I also cleaned the surfaces with a brown scotch brite pad, rubbed it down with MEK and finally with acetone. Both mating surfaces. Any oil residue will fail the seal of FIPG. My 2cts.

 

[Rifleman]

Did you place FIPG on inside track of the rear main seal arch of oil pan 1 per the FSM? I also cleaned the surfaces with a brown scotch brite pad, rubbed it down with MEK and finally with acetone. Both mating surfaces. Any oil residue will fail the seal of FIPG. My 2cts.

This X 2. If you have ANY oil or grease on either the pan or block the sealant won't stick. I've seen guys working in the shop do a really great job cleaning the block and pan. Then without thinking, they'll grab the pan with their greasy fingers, and just contaminate the surface they spent so much time cleaning. I hate to say it, but on a job like this, if you want it done right, you may need to do it yourself.

 

[ceylonfj40nut]

I have 244k on mine. Just did headgasket and full gasket replacement on engine while I was in there. Did my oil pans. I looked through the black cover opening in oil pan one which shows the flywheel and it was dry as a bone. Rear main seal is solid. Is there oil in the fly wheel cavity when you peek in through the black cover? If so most likely from rear main. If dry then it is your oil pan 1 or valve cover as others state

 

[2fpower]

I rebuilt my engine, new rear main seal, new pan gasket (fipg). Still have a leak.

Not worth the time for met to try and fix, so I just watch the dipstick.

 

[MPTank]

Update....

Got the rig back from shop. And NO leaks. Replaced the Rear main seal, seal retainer, transmission seal, and trans mount. After owning 2 80s. Finally have one with no oil leaks. Feels good.

Now On to the next mod. Steering wheel recover from Dallas steering wheel and seats recovered. Thanks for all the replies and advice.